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desire; eagerly wishing; solicitous; eager to obtain; covetous. Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him. John xvi. 19. Be not desirous of his dainties. Prov. xxiii. 3.

With desire; eagerly.

The state of being desirous.

Possessing, or controlled by, ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction. Yet Brutus says he was ambitious, And Brutus is an honorable man. Shak.

Earnestly desirous; as, anxious to please. He sneers alike at those who are anxious to preserve and at those who are eager for reform. Macaulay.

Desiring; eagerly desirous. [R.] Appetent after glory and renown. Sir G. Buck.

Actuated by avarice; greedy of gain; immoderately desirous of accumulating property.

Desirous to please; courteous; obliging; compliant; as, a complaisant gentleman. There are to whom my satire seems too bold: Scarce to wise Peter complaisant enough. Pope.

Very desirous; eager to obtain; -- used in a good sense. [Archaic] Covetous of wisdom and fair virtue. Shak. Covetous death bereaved us all, To aggrandize one funeral. Emerson.

Inordinately desirous; foolishly eager. [Colloq.] The girls were crazy to be introduced to him. R. B. Kimball. Crazy bone, the bony projection at the end of the elbow (olecranon), behind which passes the ulnar nerve; -- so called on account of the curiously painful tingling felt, when, in a particular position, it rece…

ited by desire in the pursuit of any object; ardent to pursue, perform, or obtain; keenly desirous; hotly longing; earnest; zealous; impetuous; vehement; as, the hounds were eager in the chase. And gazed for tidings in my eager eyes. Shak. How eagerly ye follow my disgraces! Shak. When to her eager lips is brought Her…

Ambitiously desirous to equal or even to excel another; eager to emulate or vie with another; desirous of like excellence with another; -- with of; as, emulous of another's example or virtues.

niversally believed that . . . serpents can stupefy and fascinate the prey which they are desirous to obtain. Griffith (Cuvier).

Loving; much pleased; affectionately regardful, indulgent, or desirous; longing or yearning; -- followed by of (formerly also by on). More fond on her than she upon her love. Shak. You are as fond of grief as of your child. Shak. A great traveler, and fond of telling his adventures. Irving.

Having a keen desire for anything; vehemently desirous; eager to obtain; avaricious; as, greedy of gain.

Eagerly desirous. See Lickerish. [Obs.] Marston.

tation of motives; to rouse by representation, persuasion, or appeal; to influence. Minds desirous of revenge were not moved with gold. Knolles. No female arts his mind could move. Dryden.

Eager for novelties; desirous of changing. [Obs.] So newfangel be they of their meat. Chaucer.

One who is eager for novelties or desirous of change. [Obs.] Tooker.

ublic right, the principles of government, etc. The Whig leaders, however, were much more desirous to get rid of Episcopacy than to prove themselves consummate publicists and logicians. Macaulay.